Trevor Laffan: A 30-year war on drugs in Cork - but issue is worse than ever

There was a story in the Cork Examiner back in 1996 that created quite a stir at the time. It told of how gardaí in north Cork had smashed a drug ring at a school, which involved pupils as young as 13 years of age.

This revelation not only rocked the county, but the paper suggested “it will have reverberations throughout Munster”.

Gardaí carried out an operation at the school, which resulted in the seizure of cannabis.

The shock brought home to many parents the fact that drugs now crossed all social boundaries and were replacing the ‘drag of the fag’ as the done thing.

A garda spokesman said he was “confident that this swift action may well have nipped the problem in the bud”.

That particular incident may well have been nipped in the bud, but unfortunately the drug scene in Ireland was only getting off the ground at that stage. A mere 30 years later, things are significantly worse.

A recent letter to the Irish Examiner from a clinical psychotherapist noted that, according to the Health Research Board, there was a 259% increase in deaths by cocaine poisoning between 2013 and 2022.

This report showed the impact of cocaine on drug-related deaths in Ireland. To put this in context, there has been an increase from 32 deaths in 2013 to 115 deaths in 2022.

In Ireland, cocaine was the second-most common drug implicated in poisoning deaths in 2022.

The Echo had a story about how cocaine is now the primary drug in Cork. According to a treatment centre team leader, the main problem is the accessibility and availability of it, which has been described as being “round the clock” by a former addict.

Declan O’Riordan, from Coolmine treatment centre’s Cork city south hub, told The Echo that cocaine has taken the lead as the primary drug for which people present for treatment.

He said the increase in the availability of the drug means it’s always just there.

“What we’re seeing the last couple of years is that it’s not just a city drug, it’s a rural drug too. It’s in every single pub and people from all walks of life and all ages are being exposed to it,” he said.

“Someone who hasn’t used drugs before will see their friends in the pub using it and think, ‘Sure, everyone else is using it, I’ll give it a go’ - there’s a normalcy to it.”

How right he was.

The 12 pubs of Christmas is a tradition that began in the early noughties. Basically, it involves a group of young people dressed in festive clothing calling to 12 pubs on a night before Christmas for some drinking games.

Usually, there is a list of rules that will determine how the group must behave in each pub, and a forfeit if someone breaks the rules.

So, the first pub might have a ‘No swearing’ rule, and anyone who curses would be required to do a forfeit.

The next pub could be ‘The wrong handed’ rule where the participants must drink with their weaker hand, and if they slip up at any stage and switch, they do a forfeit, and so on until they finish the 12 pubs.

The forfeits are many and varied. It could be to take a shot of spirits, buy a stranger a drink, remain silent for 20 minutes, or more worryingly, in recent times, it could be to take a bump. So, what is a bump?

‘Doing a Bump’ is a slang term used to describe the act of snorting a small amount of cocaine.

It is a popular activity among users who want the euphoric and stimulating effects of the drug.

The act of ‘doing a bump’ typically involves using a small spoon or key to scoop up a small amount of cocaine, which is then snorted through the nose.

It was not an unusual activity in the run-up to last Christmas, and I’m told there wasn’t much of an effort made to hide it either.

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since 1996, but it seems we are no closer to winning the war on drugs.

Cannabis found in a school these days would hardly raise an eyebrow, let alone take up column inches in a newspaper.

The Irish Examiner reported last month that gardaí have recently sent a file to the DPP seeking charges against the leaders of Ireland’s number one drug-trafficking network.

This network has been hit repeatedly by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, including a succession of major hauls and arrests of top lieutenants and logistics bosses this year.

This includes the haul of 104kg of cocaine in Wexford and Dublin, along with the confiscation of 116kg of cocaine in Co Laois last October.

The Irish Examiner previously reported that this group is estimated to traffic at least 100kg in Ireland every two months and supplies groups across the island of Ireland.

Despite the best efforts of our authorities, vast quantities of this drug continue to find its way here.

As soon as one gang is taken out, another seems ready to take its place. No surprise given the eye-watering fortunes to be made in the drug trade.

So, what does the future hold?

Well, let’s hope we don’t end up dealing with fentanyl, the drug that’s creating what the media in New York call ‘drug zombies’.

Now, that’s a scary prospect, and one guaranteed to grab the headlines.